Trump says he doesn't 'believe in undercutting people' when asked about challenging Tillerson to an IQ test

FILE PHOTO: President Donald Trump talks to the media
Thomson Reuters
President Donald Trump claimed that he didn't undercut Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by joking that the two leaders should compare their IQ scores.

In brief remarks to reporters on Tuesday, the president said he still has confidence in his secretary of state, whom has reportedly called Trump a "moron."

Despite reports that Tillerson has had to be talked out of resigning, both he and the president have dismissed any tension between them.

"I think it's fake news, but if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win," Trump said, when asked in an interview with Forbes about whether Tillerson called the president a moron.

In the same interview, Trump insisted that he was "strengthening authority" by publicly telling Tillerson that he was wasting his time trying to engage diplomatically with North Korea.

Since becoming president, Trump has hung various cabinet officials out to dry.

Trump teased Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price's future before he resigned earlier this month, and he reportedly asked Attorney Jeff Sessions to resign after he recused himself from the investigation into the Trump campaign's potential ties to Russia during the 2016 election.